Paper Lanterns
by Twilight Zephyr
Summary: What happens when you have a fugitive from the law and a naïve young man on a journey together? One hell of an adventure of course! Delic never signed up for any of this... Based on Disney's Tangled ; Delic/Hibiya ; kink meme fill
1. Prologue

**Notes:** The idea for this was bouncing around in my head ever since I rewatched the movie with a friend at her house. I automatically went to the meme when I got home to check if there was a prompt for it and there was so... I dunno, I like prompts! :3  
**Title:** Paper Lanterns  
**Pairing:** Delic/Hibiya  
**Part:** I. Prologue  
**Words:** 558 words  
**Prompt:** I JUST WATCHED TANGLED AND NOW I WANT A TANGLED X DURARARA CROSSOVER. SOMEONE MAKE IT HAPPEN.  
**Disclaimer:** It's not mine. It all belongs to others who I am in no way associated with and I make nothing from writing this, got it?

**I. Prologue**

For some reason, all of these stories start the same way; you know how it goes, 'once upon on a time there was a princess.' Well, in this case all of this has to do with a prince – but not the kind that you're thinking. But anyway, we'll get to that later.

Once upon a time, there was a drop of sunlight that fell to earth and bloomed into a magical flower. Now, this flower was no ordinary flower (hence why it's magical) and it had the power to heal the sick and injured – it could even turn back time for those who knew its secret.

As the years passed, a kingdom rose in the lands nearby. This kingdom was ruled over by a king and queen who were much beloved by their people. All that was missing to complete this picture was a child, and eventually, the queen became pregnant. But this happiness was short-lived when the queen fell deathly ill.

With the queen's illness, the people prayed for her swift recovery, but it became obvious that her condition was just getting worse rather than better. It was at this point that the people started to get a little bit desperate and began to search for a miracle. Like, say, a magical flower.

Now, for the hundreds of years that this flower had been in existence, no one had found it. You might be wondering why that is since a magical flower would certainly get a lot of attention and people flocking to it for its miraculous qualities. That wasn't the case. This is because an old woman, Namie, had hidden from the world and was using its powers to keep herself young for all those centuries.

And to do that, she just had to sing a little incantation and she was young once again.

But fortunately for the queen, a little accident occurred that lead to the discovery of the flower. With a medicine made from the flower, the queen was healed and she later gave birth to a child; a beautiful, healthy prince with long blond hair.

If you're wondering, that prince is who this story is about. They named him Hibiya, and to celebrate his birth and the miracle of the queen's recovered health, they launched a floating lantern into the sky.

Because you already know how this story starts, you should know that things don't stay happy for long, and in this case things went downhill that very night.

Namie broke into the castle and kidnapped the young prince. And although an extensive search was launched to find her and the missing prince, they never found him. The king and queen were heartbroken, but prayed that their son would one day return to them. To this end, they would launch hundreds of lanterns into the air on the even of the prince's birthday.

But meanwhile, Namie took the kidnapped prince and raised him as her own. She was determined that this time she wouldn't let her flower slip through her fingers again and kept him locked away in a tower from the rest of the world. But every year with the launching of the lanterns into the sky, the young prince would sneak to the window to watch them light up the night sky.

And that is where the story begins.

**.:-o-:. .:-o-:. .:-o-:.**

Reviews are very much appreciated and are loved very much! I'll try to have more of this up very soon – and I'm hoping that I'll be able to land regular updates with this fic along with _Fragility._ It's my first Disney inspired fic, I'm kind of excited about that... also, first time writing Hibiya and Delic. I'm just giggling right now; I was listening to the Tangled soundtrack on repeat for most of today and I adore it.

I hope that you like this!

Twilight.


	2. Waiting and Dreaming

**Notes:** I'm sorry for how long this took for me to post; I will try to have new parts up in a day since I'm leaving on vacation on Saturday and I have no idea if I'll have internet access while I'm gone.  
**Title:** Paper Lanterns  
**Pairing:** Delic/Hibiya  
**Part:** II. Waiting and Dreaming  
**Words:** 2349 words  
**Prompt:** I JUST WATCHED TANGLED AND NOW I WANT A TANGLED X DURARARA CROSSOVER. SOMEONE MAKE IT HAPPEN.  
**Disclaimer:** It's not mine. It all belongs to others who I am in no way associated with and I make nothing from writing this, got it? I don't own the song either...

**II. Waiting and Dreaming**

Morning dawned bright and early each day, light creeping in from the cracks in the curtains of Hibiya's bedroom. He yawned and blinked before climbing out of bed.

And nearly tripping over the long length of his hair.

Grumbling out a couple of complaints, Hibiya sighed and bent over to straighten out his hair as he yawned again and stretched. He sighed and grabbed his brush off the bedside table; breakfast and chores could wait, he wanted to make sure that his hair was free of tangles. His mother wouldn't accept anything less when she returned later that day.

He smiled a little at the thought as he started running his brush through his hair. Even if it was a little annoying sometimes, Namie loved his hair and always insisted on brushing it and singing the song to invoke its powers. She said she found it relaxing and that it calmed her after a long day of work – and it _**did**_ seem to rejuvenate her, so Hibiya saw no reason to complain.

It took him the better part of an hour to brush his hair completely. Hibiya slung it over his shoulder before leaving his room for the main part of the tower to tidy up and do a few other chores; being on his own for so long meant that he'd begun establishing something of a routine for every day to keep himself entertained and occupied. Sometimes Namie would take the results of he's hobbies into town to sell.

He always felt a certain surge of pride whenever she complimented him on his skills. It hurt to think about letting her down or disappointing her.

Throwing open the curtains of the window seat, Hibiya could see the sun cresting over the cliffs which walled in the clearing around his tower. The sky was painted a myriad of shades of dark blue, violet, orange and red; it was rather pretty and Hibiya wondered if he'd have enough room on the tower walls to be able to paint it. There was just something about sunrises that really reverberated inside of himself.

With a sigh, he tore his gaze away from the window and back to the main room of the tower. There was so much that he had to do...

"Well, let's get started!" he chirped to no one in particular.

Maybe there were some disadvantages to spending so much time up in this tower by himself, there was no one to talk to.

Chores were mind-numbingly repetitive, leaving Hibiya's thoughts to wander as he swept the floor of the tower, trying to keep his hair out of the way; he didn't want to have to wash it _**again**_. That was just too big of a pain and Hibiya hated it.

Humming to himself as he swept, then mopped the floor, Hibiya threw open the shutters of the tower to let in fresh air and some sunlight. Outside he could hear birds chirping and the wind rusting the grass and the leaves in the trees, such lovely and relaxing sounds.

Sighing, he went back to his chores. The only problem was that no matter how hard he tired to focus on them, he just couldn't. He got them done alright, but they couldn't stop the rather morbid turn that his thoughts had taken.

Turning to one of his paintings, he touched the wall it was painted on, "I'll be eighteen in three days. I wonder if she'll let me go."

With a frown, Hibiya glared at the wall, "Oh, who am I asking? She won't let me... but maybe if I ask nicely...?"

Glancing up at the walls, covered with paintings that went back years – and Hibiya winced at some of the older ones, maybe he should think about fixing some of those? – Hibiya sighed. He'd spent nearly eighteen years of his life dreaming and wondering what the outside world was like.

_And those lights..._

Hibiya smiled to himself, "Well, that's one thing to look forward to I guess."

Turning away from the wall, Hibiya made sure that everything had been dusted – going over a few areas that he convinced himself he must have missed on his first sweep of the tower – before returning to that one blank space just above the mantel.

Frowning, he tilted his head to the side. What could he paint there?

An idea hit him. "I know!"

Stowing away his cleaning supplies, Hibiya ran over to the small cupboard in which he kept all of his art supplies. He pulled out a sketch pad and several charcoal pencils and colored bottles of ink before settling down on the window seat, staring at the expanse of blank wall in front of him.

_First you plan what you want, then you do it._

Already there was an idea in his head, he wasn't sure where it came from, but he quickly sketched out a couple of guidelines, the rough shape of the blank wall and what he wanted to fit into it, before he started.

Rough outlines took form under his pencil, first a couple of trees to mark the horizon, the cliffs in the background... the water reflecting the lights which floated up into what would be the darkness of the sky, and those lights that he always saw on his birthday.

As the image took shape, Hibiya wondered about those lights. Each year he would sneak out to the tower's entrance and throw open the shudders to watch them float up into the night sky. He didn't know what their significance was or even what they were, but he couldn't help but feel that they were special. That, just maybe, they were meant for him.

It was a weird and silly thought, he didn't know where he got it from.

He spent the rest of the morning planning out how he was going to spend his afternoon; his picture gradually took shape until he finally put the final touches to the colouring. Lying it down on the seat to let the ink dry, he got up and stretched.

"Lunch time I guess."

There wasn't much in the cupboards, Namie had gone into town for groceries two days earlier. If Hibiya's estimations were correct, then she would be home sometime later in the afternoon or early evening.

"And... maybe this time if I ask, she'll let me go."

– –

"Hibiya! I'm home!" Namie called up.

There was a thud as Hibiya stumbled off the window seat, "Coming mother!"

"Well hurry up! I'm not getting any younger down here! You had better not being doing something stupid!"

Golden hair spilled over the sill, Hibiya hooking it into the make-shift pulley system that his mother had devised once his hair was long enough to do so. He couldn't really remember what she did before, maybe she really was a witch and teleported up? And his hair was enchanted, so it wasn't too much of a wild guess.

Hauling her up, Hibiya sighed. He knew what was coming next.

"I don't know why you take so long to do that," Namie said as she climbed into the tower. "It's not like there's anything more important than making sure your mother gets home alright."

"I'm sorry. I was just–"

"Not right now Hibiya, mother's feeling a little tired," Namie waved him off, flopping down into one of the chairs near the window. Almost instantly, though, she leaned forward and began inspecting her appearance. "Oh, I look so old..."

Hibiya gave a small smile, "You look lovely mother, just like always."

Waving him over, Namie continued, "Nonetheless, do you think you could be so kind to your mother as to sing a little? I'm awfully tired..."

"Right!"

It took a little bustling, but Hibiya found his stool and retrieved the brush from his room and plopped the stool down in front of Namie as he handed her the brush. Taking his seat, he took a deep breath and began to sing.

"_Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine... make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine..."_

As he sang, his hair began to glow a brilliant shade of gold. Quickly, Namie began to run the brush through the locks; Hibiya could feel that but ignored it and focused on his song. He knew that if he wanted to ask his mother something, he first had to make sure that she was in a good mood... and if he was lucky, than she might just be willing to agree to his request.

He loved his mother, really he did, but there were times where he felt that she was just a little too over-protective. True, his hair was special, and if it was cut it would lose its power and this was something that needed to be protected, but he couldn't help but think that the entire world couldn't be this ugly place that she painted it to be...

There had to be wonderful people out there just like her. He was sure of it.

The glow from his hair faded as the last notes of the song died out into nothing. Namie ran the brush through Hibiya's hair a few more times before she let out a small sigh and set the brush aside, fingers running through the long blond hair of her son.

"Feel better now mother?" Hibiya asked, turning to smile at her.

Returning the smile, Namie nodded, "Yes, much better. And I have a surprise for you!"

"Really?" He couldn't help it, he brightened up.

"Yes! Tonight I'm going to make your favourite meal for supper tonight! How does that sound?"

His mother sounded so cheerful; it took a considerable amount of effort for Hibiya to keep his smile in place and not let it fall. After all, he'd just gotten his hopes up for nothing... and now he was going to be asking a question that was potentially going to upset her. He did feel a little bit guilty for that.

"That sounds great, and um... I..."

Namie gave him a hard look as she stood up and hustled over to the kitchen to start unloading his basket, "Speak up Hibiya, you know I _**hate**_ when you stutter like that!"

Taking a deep breath, Hibiya began, "Well, it's just that my birthday is coming up–"

"That can't be right–"

"– and I was wondering if you'd take me–"

"– your birthday was last month–"

"– to see those floating lights."

Silence hung in the hair for several long moments as Hibiya's request sunk in. The young man fidgeted just a little with his hands, watching his mother for any signs of an outburst of sorrow that her son was tired of her company and just wanted to leave. It really wasn't that; all Hibiya wanted was to go and see the lights. That was it.

"What." Namie had frozen, she turned slowly to stare at her son; there was a look of stone cold fury in her eyes. "What did you just say?"

"That I was hoping you would take me to see the floating lights," Hibiya murmured softly, quickly averting his eyes to stare at the floor. _I knew this was a bad idea._

"No. That's out of the question. You're not leaving this tower."

Hibiya chewed his lip, "Please? It doesn't have to be far–"

"NO!" Namie snapped, rounding on Hibiya sharply, making the young man jump. She sighed, "What have I told you before?"

"That the world is a dark and cruel place and that I need to stay in this tower for my own protection," Hibiya recited. He had the entire lecture memorized by no, with how frequently it had been given. His shoulders sagged, "I know that, but..."

"Oh... I'm sorry I didn't mean to snap at you my dear..." Namie cooed gently, sweeping her son into an embrace, smiling as he returned it. She ran her fingers through his hair comfortingly. "I just worry so much about you... I just want what's best for you after all."

"I'm sorry too," Hibiya murmured. "I didn't mean to upset you, I just..."

"It's alright my dear, you won't ask again, right?" There was that tone that brokered no argument; Hibiya knew it too well.

He let out a sigh and nodded, "I promise."

"Good!" Namie chirped, pulling away from the embrace and practically skipping back into the kitchen. "Now, go get cleaned up for dinner! It'll be ready shortly!"

"Okay."

Dinner was a quiet affair, with Hibiya asking his mother a few questions about how her trip went and the like. As though she was guilty, Namie offered quite nicely to go on a longer trip to fetch a 'special surprise' for Hibiya's eighteenth birthday after apologizing almost profusely for nearly forgetting about his birthday. He figured that it was better to indulge her on that, and he was kind of curious about what the surprise could be.

Much later that night, once Namie had retired for the night, Hibiya slipped from bed and made his way to the window seat where he'd left his drawing from earlier in the day. He hadn't gotten a chance to start on the actual painting, and now... he wasn't sure if he could ever manage it.

Plopping down onto the seat, he glanced out at the night sky, covered with countless sparkling stars. He gazed up at them and sighed before looking back at his drawing.

_You must never leave this tower Hibiya; it's for your own safety._

Hibiya sighed and glanced out the window, pressing a hand up against it, "But I'm lonely..."

**.:-o-:. .:-o-:. .:-o-:.**

Hopefully I'll be able to post at least one more part before I leave for vacation, so you have that to look forward to. Ugh, I am so behind on updates that it isn't funny... .

Twilight.


	3. Introductions

**Notes:** Sorry about how long this took, I've been trying to balance too much on my plate lately and it's starting to show in my updates. Again, really sorry about that. D:  
**Title:** Paper Lanterns  
**Pairing:** Delic/Hibiya  
**Part:** III. Introductions  
**Words:** 3173 words  
**Prompt:** I JUST WATCHED TANGLED AND NOW I WANT A TANGLED X DURARARA CROSSOVER. SOMEONE MAKE IT HAPPEN.  
**Disclaimer:** It's not mine. It all belongs to others who I am in no way associated with and I make nothing from writing this, got it?

**III. Introductions**

So there were a few things in his life that Delic was complete sure of, the most prominent being that he had the shittiest luck ever. He had no idea if it was karma – and whatever the hell he'd done to deserve this, he really had no idea about – or there was some almighty being out there that really just wanted him dead. Or just really wanted to screw with him, it was one of the two.

One thing was for sure, he just seemed to attract trouble.

Maybe he should've stopped hanging around in such seedy locales, but really there wasn't anywhere else that he could go. It was probably that undeserved reputation of his – not to mention the, ahem, rather nice wanted poster of him that was floating around – which was, okay, partly his own fault, but mostly it was just life enjoying screwing him over.

That was his only rational explanation for why the hell he was running away from the palace guards for the third time in _**less than a month**_. Really, didn't they other people to chase down? Like, murderers or other dangerous criminals?

Seriously, it was not his fault that those idiots had decided that it was a brilliant idea to try and pawn off stolen goods on him just because he happened to be standing there. He really hadn't wanted to get mixed up in this crap; it wasn't his sort of thing.

Really, the only reason he was running was because he was pretty sure that the guards were kind of getting tired of his shitty karma too and figured that the best way to solve that issue was with a short drop and a sudden stop. He hadn't done something to warrant it, really, except somehow always manage to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Delic had long since stopped complaining about it since that always seemed to make it worse – if something could happen to him, it would. That was how simple his life was now.

And maybe stealing the captain of the guard's horse to facilitate said getaway was not helping his case either.

Though, the horse was rather moody – he only managed to go a short distance before it decided that it was a brilliant idea to throw him off.

Right off the fucking cliff, that is.

Plucking leaves out of his hair, Delic glared up at the horse which was on the cliff above him, neighing wildly and looking like it was trying to figure out how to get him. Well fuck, how was he supposed to know that the horse was just that intelligent?

"Figures, I get stuck with this..." Delic grumbled. Really, though, he'd gotten lucky with that tree and those branches breaking his fall. Well that and the fact that he was made of tougher stuff than the usual person – it was too bad that he had no idea where he got it from.

Given that his only options were to either head back into town and deliver himself on a silver platter to the guards or trek further into the woods and hope that he was headed in the right direction, Delic settled on the latter. He'd rather take his chances with the local wildlife and great outdoors than with his fellow man right then. Besides, it was a several day trip back into town and he didn't want to have to deal with that right at that moment.

At least everything in the forest wasn't trying to kill him.

Setting off, he felt marginally cheerful about the entire thing. At least he'd gotten away easily enough, although maybe running away wasn't doing much to help his reputation – but what did they expect? There were _**wanted**_ posters of him and they didn't even bother to list any crimes, just that he was associated with some pretty nasty individuals. Since when was poor company a crime? It wasn't like he chose to be around them... more like he was forced to.

Damn it, he really hated his life. It sucked. Plain and simple.

Delic knew that his luck probably wouldn't hold and he was right. He wound up stumbling right into another group of guards out to pursue him and his erstwhile partners in crime – what the hell had they done to piss them off this much?

"Damn!" A dead end.

Well, not exactly. Delic spotted some vines still clinging to the face of the cliff. They were better than taking his chances with the guards at least.

Hauling himself up the cliff, several of the vines snapped under his weight, making him curse. But he managed to scramble over the top just as the guards skidded into view, accompanied by his new friend Mr. Horse. Ugh, this just sucked. Couldn't he have one normal day? Just for once?

"Get back here Delic!"

"Why should I bother? You're just gonna arrest me..." Delic grumbled, turning tail and booking it further into the forest.

A little ways ahead he could make out what looked like a depression in the stone covered by foliage – it was his best bet. He made a beeline towards it, ducking behind it just as he heard the guards making their way over the cliff.

What he'd thought was a depression was actually a small cave. It took tripping over a rock that he hadn't seen for him to figure that out. That and the fact that there was light shining in from the other end. Curiosity got the better of him, he glanced back the way he'd come. He could hear the guards loudly talking to themselves, the captain issuing orders for them to split up to cover more ground to find him.

Delic let out a sigh of relief. For the time being at least, he was safe. For once, his luck didn't seem to be too bad.

Curiosity eventually got the better of him, though, and he wound up making his way out of the cave. As it turned out, it wasn't actually a cave but a tunnel. He emerged on the other side into bright sunlight in a small meadow. There were wildflowers of every color imaginable growing in the clearing and he could see a small brook running through the far side. The entire area was surrounded on all sides by tall cliffs.

However, what really drew his attention was the tall tower right in the middle of the meadow.

It stood out since it was obviously not abandoned despite the ivy which was crawling up the sides of it. There was a window at the top, thrown open to catch the breeze and probably to let in the sun. Delic thought it was strange.

"I've never heard of anything like this before..."

Walking over to it, he circled around the base and was a little puzzled by the fact that there wasn't a door. If there wasn't a door, how were people supposed to enter it? He hadn't seen any other remains of a castle or some other sort of fortification which meant that the tower had been constructed to stand on its own – for whatever reason.

"... so lonely."

Startled out of his reverie by the sound, Delic looked around the clearing. He was still very much alone. So where had that voice come from?

He glanced up at the tower and its open window, "Is there someone up there?"

Thinking it over, Delic made up his mind. Even if he had been hallucinating for whatever reason – and he was pretty sure that he was just imagining the voice – the tower would make a good place to hide. If he holed up there for a day or so, then the guards would probably give up their search and he'd be able to leave without worrying about being captured.

It seemed like a good idea. What could possibly go wrong?

The stone of the tower was pretty rough and the various blocks hadn't been set evenly, or had just shifted over time, providing several hand-holes and footholds that he could use to climb it. It wasn't a particularly tall tower, or at least, it didn't look too tall from where he was standing. The climb didn't look too challenging either.

Mind made up, he started climbing. Delic was pretty happy he was in good shape because it took quite a bit of effort to haul himself up the side of it. Still, when he reached the window sill he was panting as he hauled himself inside.

Of course, just as he straightened up and made to look around, his luck gave out.

The last thing he felt before lapsing into unconscious was something slamming, hard, into the back of his skull.

– –

Hibiya squeaked as he gently poked at the unconscious man with the frying pan that he'd grabbed from the kitchen. The man didn't move, didn't make a sound. He was quite clearly out cold.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Hibiya slumped his shoulders. He'd panicked, he would admit that. But what else was he supposed to do? Some strange man had climbed up into his home and in through the window! What if he was after his hair?

Hibiya froze. His mother's words flooded back to him. About thieves coming in the night, about how someone had tried to cut his hair, to take its power as their own and use it selfishly. That was why he was in this tower in the first place, to protect him from those very people – to keep him safe and away from the dark and cruel world that was outside his home.

He glanced back down at the man. What to do?

_A little peek can't hurt._

That nearly made Hibiya jump. Where had that come from? Why would he want to look at someone who had come to kidnap him?

_It's the first person you've seen. A little look couldn't hurt – he isn't going to be getting back up anytime soon._

Well, that was certainly true... Hibiya swallowed hard. Internally he was at war with himself; part of him wanted to freak out at the fact that someone had broken into his home while the other part was curious about who this stranger was. And it was true, he wasn't going to be waking up anytime soon – Hibiya _**had**_ hit him with all his strength.

"Just one peek..."

It was easier said than done. The man was much heavier than Hibiya had originally thought and he wound up breathing heavily by the time he managed to roll him onto his back.

Once he'd done that, Hibiya's breath caught in his throat.

_He's so handsome..._

Now that he had a better look at it, Hibiya would definitely have to say that. His mother had often told him that he was beautiful – whether because of his hair or his delicate bone structure, as she put it – but he'd never felt that he felt he fit the definition of handsome. This man certainly did.

His skin had just the lightest touch of being sun-kissed to it, with blond locks which suited him incredibly well. And he looked so peaceful lying there unconscious despite the violent cause of it. He was also tall, much taller than Hibiya was and more broad in the chest and shoulders. The more Hibiya looked at him, the more he realized that he was like the handsome prince out of the stories that his mother used to read to him when he was small.

That made him snort, "Yeah right, like I'm ever going to get a Prince Charming..."

Biting his lip, Hibiya glanced back at the man's face and flushed. It was difficult not to want to reach out and touch him. Was his skin really as soft as it looked? What about his hair?

Very hesitantly, Hibiya reached out and lightly ran his fingers through the man's hair experimentally. It was just as soft as it looked. Hibiya couldn't help but watch as the strands caught the light from the window – his hair looked almost golden.

"It suits him a lot better than it does me..." Hibiya frowned. That just was not fair.

He nearly jumped out of his own skin when the man's lips parted in a heavy breath and he scrambled backwards, flailing with his frying pan a little bit. The man didn't move anymore, but his eyes scrunched up a little bit. From his position, Hibiya could see white teeth – straight and perfect ones, not a pointy tooth or fang in sight.

Unsure what to do or what the man's motives were, Hibiya quickly came up with a plan. Now that his curiosity was sated – for the most part at least – he could settle down to figuring out just what to do with him. Twining his hair around his wrist, he made up his mind and ignored his thoughts which were providing him with some rather distracting images. He hadn't realized just how creative his imagination was until that moment.

– –

When consciousness finally returned to Delic, he was aware of a couple of things. For one, his head was pounding; it felt as though someone had beaten him around the head with a table or something. For another, his hands were tied behind his back. Well, actually, he was pretty thoroughly tied up. That wasn't the weirdest thing, though, no that would be what he was tied up with.

His bonds were completely made up of _**hair**_.

That... was something new. Not to mention extremely strange and maybe a little disgusting. But at least he was waking up somewhere clean and not a dungeon that smelled suspiciously of feet and urine.

Experimentally, he tugged on his bonds. There wasn't any give to them, but the hair felt, well, different; it had more strength to it, Delic thought, but he was still confident that he could easily break out of his bonds if need be. He wasn't going to though, so long as whoever had caught him wasn't planning on turning him over to the guards.

"D-don't move!"

The voice was high and a little squeaky – from fear, most likely – but it was definitely male. Delic tipped his head to the side, curious.

"Does it look like I'm going anywhere?"

"Well... n-no... b-but don't move or I'll – I'll–!"

"Look, I don't know who you are–"

"You – wait, you don't?" The voice sounded surprised. Delic couldn't make out whoever it was he was talking too, all he knew was that they were male, but looking around, he could just barely make out a silhouette in the darkness of the tower. The coil of hair seemed to trace back to them, was it theirs?

_Who needs this much hair?_

"No, why would I?"

This day just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"You're after my hair, aren't you?"

"What? Why would I want that?" Delic frowned. Yes, this day was weird – first getting knocked out, then tied up with abnormally long hair, and then being accused of wanting to steal said hair. "Who would want to steal that? They can grow their own."

"Wait, so you're _**not**_ after my hair?"

"Right now, the only thing I want is to get out of it," Delic grumbled. "Whatever you wanna believe about me is fine, but I'm not going to hurt you."

There was some hesitation before the other replied to that, "Do you promise?"

_Finally!_ "Yes, I promise. Will you let me go now?"

"If I do..." He could just picture whoever was holding him hostage to be biting their lip almost nervously. "Will you do something for me?"

"Well, that depends. What would you want me to do?" It wasn't like he had much else to do, and maybe if he did something good for someone else than karma would stop screwing him over so badly.

The silhouette moved, darting over to where he could make out some curtains. Light poked through for a moment, revealing a thin young man with dark hair before the curtains fell back into place and plunged him back into darkness.

He didn't have to wait much longer for a better look at them. Quite suddenly he had a picture shoved in his face with the one holding him hostage standing in front of him, bending over and pressing it close to his face. Delic glanced from the picture to the young man holding it, choosing to look at him instead. He was much more interesting.

He had extremely long blond hair, which Delic thought looked a little odd on him, and he had matching eyes – seriously, they were a bright shade of gold that he'd never seen before. Delic had been right about his build though; he was slender and his face had a sort of delicate beauty to it. Honestly that combined with the hair was enough for Delic to think that he'd probably be mistaken for a girl by most people.

"These. I want to see _**these**_ floating lights. Will you take me to see them if I let you go?" His tone and expression were kind of adorable... just in how he was trying to be threatening and all, with his lips turned down in a stern frown.

"Huh? You mean the floating lanterns that they release for the prince each year," Delic corrected. "What about it?"

The young man murmured something that sounded like, "So that's what they were..."

"Uh... you wanna see them? Why not go yourself?"

He'd pulled back the picture and had plopped himself down on the floor across from Delic, sitting with his legs crossed. Now that he could get a good look at him, Delic could tell that he was a good deal shorter than him. That wasn't too surprising; Delic was well aware that he was taller than most, it didn't help his reputation one bit.

"I don't know the way..."

"Okay."

"Huh?"

"Look, if you want to see them so bad, then fine; I'll take you to see them." He had nothing better to do and he was awfully cute too.

"Will you bring me back too?" There was a sparkle of hope in his eyes and he leaned forward almost excitedly; he looked much younger than he probably was when he did that. Come to think of it, just how young was he anyway?

"Sure."

In hindsight, Delic probably should have thought that through a little more than he had at the time. Although, he was a little preoccupied with attempting to balance out his shitty luck – why not try being someone's rescuer for once?

**.:-o-:. .:-o-:. .:-o-:.**

There you go, a new chapter. I'm still hoping that I'll be able to muster at least one chapter a week, but I'm not going to make any promises just given how unpredictable my life can get and how that can affect my writing. So we'll just say that there'll be a new chapter soon. Hopefully.

Reviews are much loved and appreciated!

Twilight.


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